Para-athletes deserve a level-playing field

When 19-year-old Avani Lekhara won a gold medal in shooting at the recently concluded Tokyo Paralympics, she became the first Indian woman to achieve such a feat. She and a couple of para-athletes helped India collect 19 medals including five gold — a record haul.

That was almost three times more than the medals won by their able-bodied counterparts in Tokyo a few days earlier. Their brilliant performance exemplified the triumph of the human spirit against fierce odds with the athletes proving there is ability in disability.

The plaudits came thick and fast. Our prime minister said that the momentum that India has gained in sports cannot stop. He also offered congratulatory messages via telephone to some of the medalists. Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra congratulated javelin throwers Devendra Jhajharia and Sundar Singh Gurjar who won a silver and a bronze, respectively at the Paralympics.

Industrialists too jumped on the bandwagon. Mahindra Chairman Anand Mahindra, always generous in gifts to achievers, announced gift vehicles to the gold medal winners, specially designed to be differently-abled-friendly. Rajeev Chadha, head of MG Motors, made a similar announcement, as did Vikram Kirloskar. Some of the winners were also offered brand ambassador roles.

All these are very good and in order. However, what is of paramount importance is to raise our country’s ability to translate the celebratory tone into recognition, support, encouragement and awareness of the rights of the differently-abled, to make their life easier and better.

India is certainly not known for being friendly to the differently-abled. It has a long way to go when it comes to removing infrastructural, institutional and attitudinal barriers for them. For starters, most public places and buildings lack the basic facilities needed for such people in their everyday life; educational institutions in the country lack basic sporting facilities for the differently-abled persons who are not even provided with the opportunity to participate in the annual sports or in any games.

There is a lack of technology and multi-sensory essentials to enhance potential talent and ensure effective participation of persons with disabilities.

Now that our Paralympians have brought home more medals from Tokyo than our regular Olympians and with the spotlight now on sports in India, our differently-abled athletes deserve a level-playing field to be treated on a par with the other players. All they need is equal rights, facilities, support and encouragement.

It is needless to say the achievements of our para-athletes are exemplary given the many constraints they have to overcome on a daily basis.

Despite the odds, they went on to excel in the global arena by sheer hard work and determination. It is not that the Paralympics is less competitive. Thousands of competitors from over 100 countries vie fiercely for those coveted medals.

What is more remarkable is that most of our para-athletes are from humble backgrounds and rural or semi-urban areas where sporting facilities are lacking. It was nothing but their grit to pursue a sport they loved and excel despite their infirmities from a young age.

Bhavnaben Patel, a silver medalist in table tennis, was diagnosed with polio when she was a baby; Another silver medalist Nishad Kumar whose right hand was severed by a grass-cutting machine when he was just eight years old, suffered from Covid-19 earlier this year. Gold medalist Avani Lekhari was left wheelchair-bound after serious spinal cord injuries in a car accident.

The silver-winning discus athlete, Yogesh Kathuniya, reportedly, said that he is still training without a coach!

While our differently-abled athletes are slowly gaining recognition and support and matters improving marginally in recent years — thanks to the government’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme — a lot more needs to be done.

Apart from providing proper infrastructure and sporting facilities for the differently-abled right from early school days and organising regular sports at the state and national level, inclusive opportunities and policies should be a pressing priority. An essential need is also greater media coverage of para-athletes and their inspiring stories, their sporting events as well as sponsoring them for sports-related endorsements.

There are some 26.8 million people with disabilities in India, accounting for 2.21% of the country’s population, according to the 2011 population census figures. Today, that number could well be much more.

It is indeed high time, we, as a nation whole-heartedly support and encourage differently-abled persons (including sportspersons) and bring about not only an overall attitudinal change towards them but also the way we look at disability.

(The writer is a Bengaluru-based independent journalist.)